Gordon Shedden
Gordon Shedden (born 15 February 1979 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish driver. He currently competes in the British Touring Car Championship for the Honda Yuasa Racing Team. Racing Career Early Years In 1999, Shedden began racing in the Ford Fiesta Championship and won it the following season with 9 wins. He raced in the SEAT Cupra Championship, finishing as runner-up in 2003 and 4th in 2004. He also made a one-off appearance in the Production Class of the BTCC at Knockhill in 2001, and at the same circuit in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain in 2005. He was entered in the 2002 BTCC by GR Motorsport in an Alfa Romeo, but this never reached the track. He has worked as Business Development Manager for the Knockhill circuit, alongside his wife Jillian. He has raced at Macau several times. British Touring Car Championship Team Dynamics (2006–2009) win at Oulton Park in 2006.]] For 2006, Shedden was chosen by Team Halfords to drive for them in the BTCC, alongside reigning series champion Matt Neal, noting that "it’s brilliant to have a teammate that I can learn so much from". He took his first win in the series in race 7 at Oulton Park, and added another in round 10 at Thruxton, where he also took his first pole position. He finished 4th overall with five wins in 2006, finishing the season as rookie of the year. In 2007 his team switched to the Honda Civic, and again took four wins. He was third overall ahead of Neal. In 2008 he was the de facto team leader alongside Tom Chilton, with Neal leaving to join VX Racing. He took a 2nd place in the season opener, but crashed heavily in race 3. He did not achieve a podium finish at Donington Park, and at Thruxton he led races 1 and 3, but suffered punctures on lap 8 of both races. 2009 saw Shedden joined at Team Dynamics (previously Team Halfords) by former Luton Town F.C. Chairman, David Pinkney. He also took on a new role as Team Ambassador for new racing team, YourRacingCar.com who contested their first year together in the BTCC support series, the Ginetta G50 Cup. CVR and GR Asia (2009) Vauxhalls at the Croft round of the 2008 British Touring Car Championship season.]] On 15 April 2009 it was announced that James Thompson would be replacing Shedden in the Team Dynamics car for the remainder of the 2009 season. The team said it was working on funds for a 3rd car for Gordon to run later in the season. However, before the round at Snetterton Shedden was signed by Clyde Valley Racing. After competing at two events for the team, they withdrew from the rest of the season. After missing the Silverstone round, Shedden rejoined the series at the penultimate round with the same bio-ethanol SEAT León that he raced for CVR, under the Club SEAT banner. Honda Racing (2010–) at Brands Hatch in the 2011 BTCC season.]] After Team Dynamics became an official manufacturer Honda team ahead of the 2010 season, Shedden and Neal were re-signed by the team. Shedden secured pole position for the first race of the season at Thruxton, he lead the opening race but suffered a 125mph shunt as a result of a puncture. Shedden won 2 races at Croft Circuit followed by wins at Snetterton, Knockhill and Donington and finished 3rd in the Drivers Championship. Shedden remained with Honda for the 2011 season with the Honda Civic now powered by an NGTC turbocharged engine. He finished the drivers championship in second place, 8 points behind his team mate Matt Neal having been his only title challenger at the penultimate race of the season. Shedden will stay with Honda in 2012, driving the new full-NGTC Honda Civic. His teammate would Matt Neal for the third year in a row. He had a disappointing opening round at Brands Hatch, his car was plagued with electrical problems for much of the weekend. He was disqualified from the third race of the day after his team worked on his car during the red flag period.Matt Neal makes strong season start for Honda, TouringCarTimes. Things improved at the next round where Shedden took two wins from three races, including one inherited due to penalties for Mat Jackson and Jason Plato. Problems for Plato at Oulton Park and good results put him in the championship lead after the first race. Top Gear Shedden has made multiple appearances on Top Gear. His first appearance came in Series 12, Episode 5, where he drove a Mercedes-Benz O305G Articulated bus in a bus race. In Series 14, Episode 4, he drove an articulated bus in the airport vehicles race.Gordon Shedden, IMDb. Racing record Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 2001 all races, 2006–present just in first race, 2001 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 2001–present all races, 2001 in class) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point given – 2001–present all races) * Season in progress References External links * Official site * Article on YRC Ambassador * Profile at BTCCPages.com * btcc:action profile * Article on Gordon's BTCC entry * Article on his Carrera entry pl:Gordon Shedden sv:Gordon Shedden Category:Drivers